Preferred Label : Inflammatory Response Pathway;
NCIt related terms : Cytokines and Inflammatory Response;
Alternative definition : BIOCARTA: Inflammation is a protective response to infection by the immune system
that requires communication between different classes of immune cells to coordinate
their actions. Acute inflammation is an important part of the immune response, but
chronic inappropriate inflammation can lead to destruction of tissues in autoimmune
disorders and perhaps neurodegenerative or cardiovascular disease. Secreted cytokine
proteins provide signals between immune cells to coordinate the inflammatory response.
Some cytokines such as IL-1, IL-6, and TNF act to broadly provoke the inflammatory
response while others act on specific types of immune cells. Macrophages and other
phagocytotic cells provide a front-line defense against bacterial infection. Macrophages
stimulate the inflammatory responses of neutrophils, fibroblasts, and endothelial
cells in response to infection by secreting IL-1 and TNF. IL-1 and TNF cause fever
through alteration of the body temperature set-point in the hypothalamus. Fibroblasts
and endothelial cells respond to IL-1 and TNF by recruiting more immune cells to the
site of inflammation. Secreted IL-8 is a chemokine that attracts neutrophils to sites
of infection. Macrophages also present antigen to T helper cells that play a central
role in coordinating immune responses. T helper cells induce clonal expansion of T
cells that respond to antigen, with IL-2 as a key mediator of T cell proliferation
and activation. TGF-beta is a negative regulator of proliferation in many cells, having
anti-inflammatory actions in some settings. The cytotoxic activity of Natural Killer
cells (NK cells) and lymphokine activated killer cells (LAK cells) toward viral infected
or tumor cells is stimulated by IL-2 and other cytokines. T helpers secrete IL-3 and
IL-5 to stimulate eosinophil proliferation and activation. Eosinophils are involved
in the immune response to parasitic infection. T helper cells are required to stimulate
B cell responses as well, with the cytokines IL-10, IL-4 and other cytokines regulating
the clonal selection and differentiation of antigen-specific B cells to form antibody-secreting
plasma B cells and memory cells. In addition to inducing activation and proliferation
of specific differentiated immune cells, cytokines act on hematopoietic stem cells,
causing their proliferation and differentiation into the full range of immune cells.
(This definition may be outdated - see the DesignNote.);
NCIt note : The BIOCARTA Definition (ALT_DEFINITION) for this pathway concept was provided by
BioCarta. This property was not created by, nor is it maintained by the NCI Thesaurus
staff. Additionally, BioCarta is no longer updating its pathway data; thus, the BIOCARTA
Definition might be outdated or inaccurate. Please see the Terms and Conditions for
Use at http://www.biocarta.com/.;
Biocarta ID : h_inflamPathway;
Origin ID : C39129;
UMLS CUI : C1512758;
- Semantic type(s)
- has_gene_product_element
- pathway_has_gene_element